Merry Christmas 2015

SO WHAT DO YOU NEED? BESIDES A MIRACLE...

Dear followers, readers and friends!

I know I haven’t been active in a while. I am terribly sorry for that but I hope you trust me saying that I didn’t really have the time. I am glad this Christmas post gives me the chance to kind of explain myself a bit as well as to give you a short glimpse of what is about to come.

First of all since a few months I have a new job and been working as game developer for a great company. Honestly I don’t know what I can tell about them but given my contract I would rather not tell anything at this point. We are working on some pretty cool prototype that is supposed to be officially announced around the end of Q1/16 most likely already with a public alpha. So, as much as I would like to write about that project now, I guess we all have to be a bit more patient with it. What I can tell so far is that we are an awesome team and working with everybody on a project that size is really inspiring and a very positive experience for me.

The second thing - something I have been sort of hiding so far – is the fact that I am already working on the next “private” indie project too… actually I should say “we” are working on the next indie game, because this time also here I am working together with several other Austrian developers and artists in collaboration. The team – for the time being – also summarized and labeled as sIPXgames actually already got together during the summer but after intense brainstorming and planning, the work the first prototype finally began in November. The game we are making in our spare time is called Street Justice and it is going to be not only a hot action driving-shooter but a funny satire to Austria and the situation we are facing on the streets here every day. Wait, I don’t want to go too much into detail at this moment… the website for the game will be available shortly and together with it going online there naturally will be a big announcement post right here on this site! For now, I just hope you sort of understand now, why there haven’t been any updates on the blog for a while.

Doing this editorial stuff with reviews and essays is pretty nice and I like it a lot but I am sure you also understand that it doesn’t really generate me any money I need to pay things like rent or food. And besides, to me there is only one thing more rewarding and satisfying than playing, analyzing and talking about games,which is: making games! No matter the scale, given games the way they are these days and seeing where it all is going, I honestly prefer making them myself and having a ton of fun in the process.
But not to worry, my motivation hasn’t changed and I don’t intend to stop writing about them. I think that I am at the end of a more or less short transitioning phase. I just needed to see how and where things are going so that I could come up with at least sort of a schedule that not only puts my life on some stable tracks but also has place for this blog.

GUNS. LOTS OF GUNS!!!

It’s hard to ignore that the time I can spend reviewing games decreased significantly but I think it is possible to get something up at least every two weeks. – Depending on the time I have left sometimes I think I can even post something on a weekly basis. I will tell you more about the schedule in the following posts. A lot is coming and I hope you will do as I and use this holiday time to rest and prepare for it!

For now, I only want to wish you all a merry Christmas and happy holidays! Also many thanks to the people who downloaded Supreme Chicken Showdown, despite its flaws and sometimes misinterpreted intentions as not being a super serious project, and especially to those who didn’t think twice and even donated me a few bucks for it. I think the people who did, realized that what they gave wasn’t explicitly for the game alone, but for a much bigger picture and the general effort behind everything I do.

Sometimes it is not easy to follow your heart, sometimes I was about to give up during this (yet another) turbulent year,… but somehow it is over and to be honest, going into 2016 looks a lot better now. I know some of you really saved my ass. – Just wanted to make sure you know it too! Thanks!

Merry Christmas 2015!

Play more! Expect more!

 

RADIUS FESTIVAL VIENNA 2015

SUPER GREEN AND HOT, HOT, HOT!

Back in reality; some days after the Radius Festival took place in Vienna, it remains hard to immediately forget the vibrating impressions of a long, very long and exciting weekend. All those smiling faces, so many people indulging in probably the purest form of contemporary entertainment, getting together, united across geographical boundaries and cultural differences to play and talk about their mutual passion: Videogames.

Interactivity is not only a key aspect of any game itself but plays a central role when we are looking at the indie scene; at events like this it exceeds the games and moves to a social level where even visitors are not only watching but becoming part of it. It’s about meeting people and appreciating their work, getting and giving feedback and about connecting. Especially when you are making games, no matter how small or successful, you can feel it: A reality beyond, a cosmos with its own sets of rules, its own dynamic full of widespread tolerance difficult to find elsewhere. Finally a weekend where you wouldn’t talk about Greece and the demise of the European Union (at least financially). - A welcome break from frustrating politics or economics, a place where – at least for a short while – the only thing that actually matters is games!


Radius ranks high among the best events I have visited so far. They had a beautiful location, they were well organized, took care of your every need, everybody was friendly, they had a super exciting night show broadcasted live on twitch and maybe most importantly: A really, really awesome collection of indie games to play. Seriously, with more than 50 games, the list is that long that I can’t even see me doing the work of linking to all of the juice. Luckily the website of Radius itself offers links to (almost) all of the games that were shown on the weekend, so I strongly urge you to check the games out from there. However, here are some of my personal favorites:

TOTEM'S SOUND

Initially made for a museum this 2D-RPG doesn’t come short on historical content but surprises with lovely graphics, traditional RPG values and atmospheric sound. You play Johan Adrian Jacobsen and more or less accurately experience his story with the goal of retrieving several artifacts that are actually exhibited in the museum. Sounds boring? – I don’t think so!

Although strictly seen this might be an “educational game” (and there goes the profit) it really is not. Even if you are not interested in the history and you don’t want to visit the museum this game offers everything a good RPG needs, except multiple party members, and it is free as well… so no profit anyway. Check out the game here and please follow/support @causecreations and their other games as well.

SHOOTING STARS!

Hmm… considering the success this game (made in Austria by @bloodirony btw.) is having on iOS all over the world at the moment, it won’t take too long until Michael, Stefan and Alex – the sympathetic developers behind it – have to add themselves to the game as stars!
Don't trust the website, here’s the true plot: There was this rainbow unicorn; white, with rainbow hair and well… unicorny. It could walk on two legs, speak English and loved coffee. Then came aliens and sort of body-snatched into the stars of our world – as in Alk Hogan, Pew der Pie, Edmund McBillion and Nuck Chorris – to do bad things. So, the unicorn mated with itself and magically gave birth to a man named Tscherno. He first travelled back in time and stole the hoverboard of Marty McFliege before he fell in love with a cute cat in Eastern Europe that could shoot lazers from its mouth named Bill. They teamed up and are now on a rogue-like, arcade-style mission shooting the stars (wait... killing the aliens). – Well, something like that anyway. Seriously, just get the game and try figuring it out yourself while competing for a highscore here.

CHALO CHALO

...is not a fancy new vegetarian fast-food product from the Netherlands, but an absolutely addicting party game for up to eight players. Still in development I consider myself lucky I could play this game already and even got some familiar “Let’s play risk”-rivalry going with friends visiting the event. Being smart about the path you choose, you just have to reach the goal before the others do – it doesn’t get simpler than that. This game is one to keep under close surveillance! - More info at: Chalochalogame

FUGL

Ever wanted to be a bird? This could be for you. So far Fugl is "only" a bird-flying simulation from Norway. Because the game is still under development there aren't any goals in it yet, but according to the developer Johan (no, not the one from the history RPG) there will be. In the meantime Fugl impresses with a fantastic and colorful, minecraftesque, voxel world and great touch-screen flight controls. Unfortunately there's not too much to follow the development yet but you can get a glimpse of what it looks like here on youtube and I am sure more social links will be available soon.

MARY WOKE UP TODAY

Waking Life meets Point&Click and results in a inspiring and artistic experience for everyone to play. Mary woke up today is another game made in Austria that shows how much talent is actually located here and that less is often enough to leave a lasting impression and make dreams come reality!

Play this short, free indie game linked from here and keep an eye on @inyoursigh for more art!

HUE

Developed by @mudvarkgames from London, Hue is not the usual puzzle platformer; here it's all about crazy colors! I have first seen this game in January at the CEGC15 and not surprisingly the game has come a long way since that. There is a multitude of new puzzle mechanics and an actual game world has evolved while even bits and pieces of the underlying story are starting to emerge. Honestly, the game is still not for me personally, since I prefer action and speed when it comes to platformers, but the visual art of the game together with its literally "colorful mechanics" does certainly make it special. Pay it a visit here and say "Hi" to @DanDaRocha on twitter, will you?

THE ANSWER MY FRIEND, IS BURNING IN THE WIND

- I swear I will let those Dylan quotes rest at some point, but what can you say... they offer soo much!
Of course there were many more games... Her Story, Blood will be spilled, TactiX, Space Box, Antisphere, Ten Weeks, Hive21, Son of Nor, Riposte,... many more great games to be fair, but as I said, I can't cover all of them now and you could always check out the links on the Radius page or even re-watch the recorded live streams of each day on twitch. In the future I will surely take a closer look at a few more of the games but for now let's slowly try to get a hold of the "real" reality again.

Radius was an inspiring and surprisingly big celebration of the videogame culture, not only for Austria but for the whole indie community. It is a pleasant feeling to burn right in the middle of the indie movement that, thanks to a lot of hard working people and entities (@GeorgeBacker, @TomDeRoeck, @GamesAustria to name a few), got finally ignited even in super conservative Austria. The fire is spreading, much more is about to happen and the flames won't be that easy to put out anymore!

Hopefully Radius, Adriel Wallick and Rami Ismail with his "Vlambeer" will return to Vienna again and you will be burning with us next time.

Play more! Celebrate more! 
 

E3 2015

GREAT GAMES, HERE WE COME!

Here we go again... it's E3 recap time. In case you weren't there and also missed the hours of footage from this year's E3, here is a "short" (yeah, you know me ;) summary and as usual my personal opinion on it. Let's start with the show itself, shall we?


You might remember my coverage of last year's expo? - Yes, I was pretty disappointed to say the least... but since the transition into the next generation of console gaming has been going on for quite some time already, I am not too surprised that this E3 was better... a lot better!

First, Microsoft did really a good job. - Especially compared to last year. While the show was really nice and it was clear they put a lot of effort into the presentation, the most important thing in my opinion is that they could and did finally show a lot of games for Xbox One. Also technically they really hit the spot with the new Xbox One "Elite" Controller and the HoloLens.

Well done Microsoft, well done!

I think Sony managed to keep the quality of their presentation compared to last year. They also showed a lot of games - maybe even more than MS - and even better, they showed more actual gameplay than MS, which is pretty important for me? The show itself was pretty much the same as last year, with only one big (panaroma-setup) screen in the back. Although I think this time Microsoft stole the show in terms of visual presentation by far, Sony still did a great job.

And lastly there was Nintendo... and guys,... I really don't know what to say about this. I don't want to offend someone, I dearly love Nintendo, the great games and consoles they made in the past,... but honestly, I can't anymore. I was already heavily disappointed by their show last year, but this year simply was too much and for now I am pretty certain not to get a WiiU anymore. I don't know, games are supposed to be fun, right? Games shouldn't be that serious all the time and mostly deal with shooting, gore and violence, right?

Nintendo always offered the counterpart to this and kept the gaming universe in balance with their simple and colorful Mario & Co titles. But watching this crappy puppet show and people taking obviously nothing really serious - except their focus on handheld titles and their own local market - didn't make me laugh, it almost made me vomit. If you don't want to get into further details or you (still) are a Nintendo fanatic, you might want to skip the next section and continue to the list of games below.

THE NINTENDO PROBLEM

I understand their strategy and it is clear that their main focus is and probably always was the Japanese market, but personally I can't hold on to that anymore. It's time to face the facts; I am a 30+ western gamer; next to PC-gaming, I prefer console gaming a lot. I want a system to be hooked up with my TV, a good controller, a couch and damn good, impressive games (which doesn't exclude indie games, naturally)! I don't give a rat's fart about any tech-goodies that are said to improve my gaming experience like a controller that makes me stand up, jump around and shake my hands like an idiot, like a connected tablet that lets me control something in the game, or even like "Big Brother" Kinect. I don't need it, I don't want it. Just focus on the games please!

Furthermore I am also not a handheld gamer. I was when I was smaller but I am not anymore. And to finish it up: It is kind of hard to actually say it, but I think I have also had it with Mario & Co. It's simply getting boring... I've been watching those titles closely but honestly everything at Nintendo seems to stay still for a long time already. I remember the time when Super Mario 64 came out and rocked my hole Mario World again, the moment I put in Zelda - Ocarina of Time and I was blown away, when I first played Metroid Prime, Luigi's Mansion or Smash Brothers on the Gamecube... but that's it. What was going on since then? In my opinion there wasn't a single good Mario game, not one good Zelda game, no new good Metroid and so on. - Please keep in mind that I don't do handhelds. I know of some pretty good games there but sorry, that's just not my platform. I am also fully aware that there are pretty good games from the known franchises out and coming like Mario Kart 8, Yoshi's Wooly World or the Donkey Kong WiiU. Also the new Zelda looks pretty nice, but in a way (except Zelda maybe) that is more like keeping the standard and not really improving, wouldn't you agree? What was the last "none Mario & Co - Nintendo franchise" that they surprised us with? - Splatoon? - Sorry, but I don't get the hype about this game, I know this will probably cost me followers, but seriously... while other companies are making games like The Division, Halo 5, Anno 2205, Alien Isolation, Batman, Horizon, The Witcher, a Final Fantasy VII Remake, Tomb Raider, Courier of the Crypts, Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery and many more, the best Nintendo comes up with is Splatoon??? And then everybody is buying into it? I don't get it... well,... actually I do, but it's still not a reason for me to get it. And what is an even stronger reason not to get a WiiU is this Amibo bullshit... sorry, I am out.

To sum it up: Again, Nintendo wasn't there. Again, Nintendo made a childish show. Again, most of their "show" consisted of too long, thus boring interviews about mostly uninteresting stuff. 50% of their "virtual event" showed handheld games, 30% of their show dealt with puppet crap, 5% was dedicated to Super Mario's anniversary and only 15% was about actual games for the WiiU...

From the top of my head, here is an example of what I want, Nintendo:

Get your secret Metroid WiiU back to the drawing boards and make it a dark, realistic and frightening experience in space and on some planets. Make it 3rd-person or even better a 1st-person-shooter style game, that already worked with Metroid Prime and everybody knows western gamers love shooters. Make it like a mixture of Doom, Halo and Farcry with astonishing visuals, next-gen lighting and shading technics and wrap it in a cool Metroid story. - How about that? Just for once make something serious and not the next colorful clone. You have the means, you have the money, so please just stop playing with puppets and do something worthwhile. I think you are relying too much on your established brands and the Japanese market. From what I see happening around, I just have to doubt that this will hold up for you... and I am afraid not even making your brands mobile will be enough in the end.

GAMES, GAMES, GAMES

Ok, (enough of the Nintendo stuff) let's have a bit more fun and watch some trailers of the great things to come. Please note that the videos are not categorized between Xbox One, PS4 and the few there are from Nintendo or even PC, because most of my highlights are anyway cross-platform. Instead I will give you my documented first reaction to each video... :)

• HALO 5 ("Yep... I can't wait for that! Impressive as always.")
• RECORE ("Hmm,.. this looks like an interesting action adventure... I hate/love robots")
• FALLOUT 4 ("Well, it's Fallout... just great and now modding is coming to consoles too?")
• DARK SOULS 3 ("Not much from the game there, but the production value sure looks nice.")
• THE DIVISION ("Curious if we will still see trailers about that at next year's E3 or if...")
• XCOM 2 ("Ohh-Yeah!! Overwatch!")
• RAINBOW SIX - SIEGE ("I think I could get into Rainbow Six again...")
• BEYOND EYES ("Awesome! But damn it, another idea of a game I wanted to make!")
• ION (" 'A game that is not a game?', in space, and with great graphics... count me in!")
• RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER ("Gameplay please... and Lara is again falling.")
• FABLE LEGENDS ("Can this be a good part again after the last disaster?")
• GEARS (of War) 4 ("Trying it again? Hope you learned what you did wrong with the last.")
• THE LAST GUARDIAN ("Rat + Chicken + Dog = wtf? And more voice samples please.")
• HORIZON - ZERO DAWN ("Wow! Robot dinosaurs and Barbarella! Brilliant!")
• HITMAN ("I think you forgot a number in the title... but it still looks nice.")
• STREET FIGHTER V ("Street Fighter just rocks... also with new characters.")
• FIREWATCH ("Mysterious... who is in your tower? Exciting... I like it.")
• FINAL FANTASY VII - REMAKE ("Crying like a small girl at Christmas. Thank you!!")
• SHENMUE 3 (" 'Perhaps they're out?' and qicktime-events all over again! I am ready.")
• STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT ("OMG, a Wilhelm scream! Is it going to feel THAT good?")
• UNCHARTED 4 ("I have to play this franchise sooner or later!")
• DEUS EX - MANKIND DIVIDED ("Here we go again... impressive, epic, futuristic,...")
• XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X ("Wished they'd make a Xenogears remake but that'll do."
• MARIO TENNIS ULTRA SMASH ("Yesss! A new Mario sports game.")
• YOSHI'S WOOLY WORLD ("Too cute to be true...")
• ZELDA ("Oops.. didn't make it to E3... hope you don't promise too much for next year.")
• STAR FOX ZERO ("Wow, looks like an old Xbox game... no, no,...")
• SUPER MARIO MAKER ("Think I'd rather use Unity to make levels...")
• ANNO 2205 ("This is just going to be awesome! They always top their previous part!")

THE END OF THE STORY

Finally I feel the current console generation starts to offer something. I haven't been this excited for quite a while and besides wanting that delicious new Xbox Controller, there are easily 10 games in this list I consider an absolute must-have. Have you seen Star Wars Battlefront for example? - I think similar to Alien Isolation, the creators of this game will finally produce an outstanding game for a movie franchise that was waiting a long time for just that. Also Horizon - Zero Dawn (of which I haven't even heard before E3) made me hover above my chair. Then there's Halo 5 and I think I don't have to say anymore about the Final Fantasy VII Remake, right? Oh yes, and they are even making a new Shenmue! How awesome is that?


- Well, actually that one was also kind of sad at the same time because I don't really agree with what they did with kickstarter in that case. How is a million going to help a game that will easily cost 80 million to make? I think that was just promotional and an intended as well as calculated audience appeal test. - I hate when platforms like kickstarter are "abused" in that manner because they should be helping other people and independent projects. Imagine how many great indie titles could have been funded with that million spent on Shenmue solely to prove to investors that there is a market for it.

Well, anyway... I very much enjoyed this E3 compared to last year's. Everybody - in my opinion except Nintendo did a good job and I am more than positive that great gaming times are just around the corner!

Play more! Hover more!

DO SCHNITZEL AND GAMES REALLY GO ALONG?

COLLECTIVELY REFLECTING THE TRUTH

Shortly before Easter I attended a public discussion @subotron in Vienna dealing with important questions about the Austrian gaming industry. In case you are my usual reader from abroad: Subotron is one of the few associations in Austria trying to push and make leaps for the local gaming industry. Mostly based on open discussions they constantly pull off events that are educational, promotional and interesting for students and industry members alike. - Among other growing organizations and communities, Subotron might as well be right at the center of videogame culture and computer related art in Austria if you will.

I found this evening particularly interesting because it was more or less centered around Thomas Mahler (the creator of Ori and the Blind Forest) or rather certain comments he made about the state of the gaming industry in Austria. - Essentially that there isn't one, because although there are games being made in Austria, none of them (subjectively speaking) qualifies as a "good" game because in order to make a good - or rather an internationally successful - game; here you can neither find the necessary talent nor the financial support you would need. In a way I agree, but the controversial nature of this statement, the reactions from local studios and how the press handled it was not the only reason I attended and wanted to hear more. I was also there because I am currently playing Ori and I am naturally working on a review where I wanted to include some elements of the discussion, if possible. - Believe it or not, but it doesn't happen quite that often that an internationally top-selling and highly appreciated game is "made in Austria" or... "from a guy from Austria"... or whatever the correct label is. In a way Thomas Mahler currently is a star, maybe a sub-cultural one, but I guess that qualifies. For people from this country - like myself - it is a rare pleasure to shake the hand of such a person, to see how he is in reality and to listen to what he has to say in person instead of staring at a monitor.

I expected a mudslinging, seriously! Because as it is most of the times; where there are those that literally idolize you, there are also those that condemn you because envy always comes before rationality. Or was it arrogance that comes before envy? Anyway, very soon statements are made, twisted and people get pissed off. Misunderstanding leads to accusation, accusations lead to a defensive position, defense turns into attack and the hateful, despicable fight is preprogrammed. A lite version of something like that happened in Austria some weeks before the release of Ori and to make one thing clear: I am not defending a statement that even makes me look like an idiot in what I am doing as the small indie guy I try to be. But I have to admit that I agree to a certain point and above all I appreciate statements like this in the way that they cause ripples and that the lead to great discussions like this recent one, where a bigger part of the people that have something to say about videogames in Austria is present and issues publically surface that usually nobody dares to speak out loud.

Yes, there were some moments, some aggressive statements and as always a few unfounded comments, but for the most part - I would say 99% - this evening was absolutely civilized and informative. The expected mudslinging, which almost tempted me to bring some popcorn, didn't take place. Instead I found myself surrounded by many, really smart people who without exception not only knew what they were talking about but also surprised me deeply.

EXHUMED CORPSES AND ARTIFICIAL LABELS

The debate spread to several different questions like: Is it good to hire only the best people to make a game versus who takes care of the diamonds in a rough? Is it really true that you can't find the people you need - the best people - for your game in Austria? If so, who's fault is that? - Is it because the educational system doesn't produce quality standards in Austria? Is it because we are Austrians after all - meaning that we all sit on our royal asses and wait for everything to come to us instead of working really hard? Or is it because there really is no foundation that allows for quality here because ultimately it costs money and tragically Austrian companies aren't getting real support from the government and/or economical institutions but are instead confronted with every possible stone "they" can put in their way?

Those are some of the core issues right there and although questions like that can't be answered over night, people started to reflect them! Videogames is a business. It's an awful hard job and I would not be surprised if in some years studies will surface showing how people working in this field endangered their health and shortened their lifespan due to the constant stress and pressure they are exposed to. - Actually no, I take that back, I would bet such studies already exist abundantly. I guess making videogames being hard as well as being a business is one thing all the parties agreed. At some point however I missed the mutual consent that in that regard it doesn't really matter whether you make a (subjectively) "not so cool" f2p browser game or a "highly meta-critiqued" console game. It doesn't matter if you work with four people across the globe or with 80 local employees you have to pay every month and thus give the government probably more than they deserve for giving you not the least bit of support, although you are actually pushing an industry with a bright future, locally accumulating know-how and so on. It doesn't matter in the sense of people working under pressure, of resources being managed and sacrifices made. Ultimately - because there are damn smart people behind it - I wouldn't doubt that usually the best possible thing is created from the options available. Videogames is a business... and a lot of different game studios use different business models for their games. There is nothing wrong with dissecting a target audience and making games especially for them. But logically the level of success becomes as subjective as the answer to the question of the result being good. If the final product sells according to the expectations and in the meantime generates enough money to actually help local programmers, artist and designers, if it supplies jobs and therefore raises the quality - the skills of every employee - long-term, there should be nothing to criticize on that. The question is just how far you can really boost quality if you only produce what makes your company survive instead of pushing yourself. I honestly believe that Mahler is seeing this not in any other way. As I said before, statements tend to get twisted and sometimes debates circle around one improper articulation longer than necessary. But you have to ask the question if something is good! This is in our nature. It's what drives economy and ultimately ensures quality. We, especially as the people tied to this contemporarily supreme form of entertainment, have to ask us that question every day! And believe me; we will have to ask it even more in the future because more and more games are produced on a daily basis. It's like economy class 101: Only the good stuff will make it and the rest will perish! Actually, I like that thought because in a nonbiased environment good would be determined by the people - by the market. Unfortunately we all know that we are not living in such an environment and that mighty marketing mechanisms almost have us at the point where they can shove everything down our throats. Good or bad has long become an artificial label rather than being a common and reasonable concept.

Like I said, in a sense I agree with Mahler. He wants to push people. He has come under some "lite" version of an attack but surely unjustly marked as arrogant because he banged his fist on the table and told the people to wake up. If you - if we as Austria - really want to be part of this game, we need to rethink our conceptions of what is good. All the micro-economical necessities like paychecks aside, we need to push the visions rather than the more or less safe perspectives. This is an international game and we need to think bigger. What is good for the Austrian or the German market for example is not enough if you want to sit in on this table. Please forget those borders and somebody do a leap of faith. Just be honest to yourself; Isn't there some truth in what Mahler also said - roughly quoted but surely contextually right as - "A game is good when it will be remembered even 20 years from now". Nobody will remember the next Call of Duty or the next Assassin's Creed. - Heck, I can't even tell the individual games of those franchises apart anymore. And internationally!, most certainly nobody will remember a game like Mein Gestüt. It doesn't matter if you are a programmer, a designer, a CEO, a tester, a writer or a student,... if you listen carefully to what your heart is telling you, wouldn't you rather work on a game like Ori instead of some mere excuse of a game like *insert 90% and rising of any f2p, premium, advertisement-packed mobile title*?

DON'T STOP BELIEVING

In the end you have to do what makes you happy, right? Jobs in this industry are so tough that you need at least that. And we are all forever 16 too... In a way even the simplest games can make us happy and I can quite good imagine that working on Skyrama was a ton of fun for example. Then again, there is more; something everlasting, a chance to be part of something bigger and to help create a true legacy of videogames, because next to entertainment and business above all it is and should be one thing: art! I know that there are pages reserved for Austria in this book of videogame history... I just hope that by now it is perfectly clear that those pages will not be filled by games produced with the sole intent of "employing 80 people" or "being able to write paychecks". I am certain that we have to do better than that but also that we can make it.

Do we need support? Do things have to change? Do we need better people? Do we need to encourage and train more people? Do we need a stronger community? Do we all need to march the streets in front of the government buildings and scream out lout that nonwage labor costs, among other policies, are ridiculous in this country? Do we need to take a leap of faith and take a risk? - Yes, I think we need!

Above all I think we have to continue to make games, to give our best and to work together. I have played and "played" creating games for so long, always trying to put an eye on the industry in Austria. Honestly, I didn't see too much. I liked to think that's because I also have higher standards but maybe I just wasn't looking good enough... Anyway, I can see it now; more and more communities are forming, the media is jumping in and games are coming from both the industry and indies. Be it Ori and the Blind Forest from Moon Studios, A Fragment of Her from Chronerion, Legacy Quest from Socialspiel or Shadowrun Online from Cliffhanger and many, many more - the things are happening! My biggest hope however lies in that GamesAustria will really become a great, open and impartial platform for us all to pull on the same string. That we can finally have a community where everyone is accepted and every single keyboard junky and artist is encouraged to get out of his or her basement and realizes the opportunity to show their work to people who welcome it. I have no illusions, it's not going to be easy, but if we all work hard things will change.

And that's my cue,... if I took one thing with me from that evening it's motivation. I don't really know how much more I can put into this, into Phi, into my other prototypes, into a good portfolio and reading even more, because honestly I am on the limit already. But alright, I get the message. I will work even harder. I don’t care. If that’s what it takes to get at least some attention, to get at least those feedbacks that tell me I am doing garbage so I can really improve… My financial reserves should keep me going till the end of May and then we will see. But I am certainly not going to resign to the Lagerhäuser, the only buildings higher than churches in my surroundings, constantly and symbolically laughing down and postulating that in Austria you can’t be anything else than a farmer.

Play more! Work more! 

A SAD XBOX ONE...

JUST STANDING IN MY SHELF NOT BEING USED

As many of you probably noticed, I have an Xbox One… actually for a few moths already. I wanted to write something about that for a while now but I just didn’t have the time. Although I doubt it very much, I still hope this post will be read by some responsible people at Microsoft. At least it could be another voice on the internet and show you, who haven't bought an Xbox One yet, some serious issues that you might want to know before.

Why did I buy the Xbox One?
- Knowing that the PS4 is superior regarding technical details.

Well, first of all, I would have never purchased an Xbox One if they hadn’t made an edition without the Kinect. Next to the fact that I really and utterly dislike “games” that are made with it, I also have a serious problem of inviting Big Brother into my living room anymore than I am already forced to do.


Most important for the decision towards the XB1 was the fact that I have a significant Xbox 360 library of games, which I continue to play and tend to enjoy for a long time ahead. - Not that XB1 is backwards compatible, but I am talking about Xbox Live and playing those games online. In any case I would have continued to play “old” games thus using - more importantly - paying for Xbox Live. Luckily, it doesn’t matter whether XB1 or X360 cause the service Xbox Live stays the same and also needs to be paid only once! In short: Although PS4 was very tempting my financial situation just simple doesn’t allow paying for Xbox Live and PSN at the same time!

The other important decisive momentum were the games. Not only the games available at that time but also considering the ones to be released in the future. I think we know that we are living in times where almost nothing is an exclusive anymore… seriously; except Nintendo’s everlasting, tight grip on Mario, Luigi & Co… the games that are only PS4 or only XB1 are so few it’s almost not worth mentioning it. But anyway, games were a factor in my calculation as well, so feel free to put them on the balance like I did. In the end you might come to the same conclusion: The only two games making a difference are the new Halo only on XB1 and the new Metal Gear Solid only on PS4. So ask yourself which of those games/franchises you prefer more and trust me; the rest is surprisingly really keeping in the balance. - Not that any of these two games will be seeing the light of the day very soon, but here you have it… that’s why I bought an Xbox One instead of a PS4, or rather put the PS4 on hold for the time being.

PROBLEMS AND SERIOUS ISSUES WITH XBOX ONE

Now to the interesting part; am I happy with that decision?

1. Technical Stuff (basics,... not talking about frames here)

Xbox One is technically obviously so inferior that on the very first day I bought it, I wasn’t even able to play with it. I am not talking about the annoying first-boot patches, which PS4 has as well, but I am talking how unbelievable and almost indescribable long it takes for games to install! I realize that this is strongly depending on which game you want to play and/or your internet connection and also that there were improvements during the last months, BUT the games I got with the XB1 (Wolfenstein and Ryse) both took more than four hours to be installed (completely) - thus be playable - on my console! Evil Within and Alien Isolation both took more than one hour on my XB1 vs approximately 15 minutes on one my friend’s PS4. Do any of you even remember those times back in the "PS1 age of greatness" where loading times where actually a factor deeming a game good or bad? - Like: “Wow! This game has so long loading times I would rather play something else.” All this seems gone today; not only that loading times with several minutes have become more of a rule than the exception, people already have to wait several hours until they can even start to play what they just bought in the store!

2. Service Problems

Xbox Live is in a desolate state if you ask me. Again, there have been improvements already, but in those three months I now own the XB1 and the approximate 40 times I wanted to do something online with it, in easy 30 cases there were problems with the service. Ranging from smaller bugs like not updating the friends lists correctly, over party issues like being unable to join and/or constant disconnects, voice communication problems to complete worst case scenarios like not being able to play the game due to update problems or the fact that you have to be online for doing so! And by the way, I am not only talking about the last Christmas time where again a bunch of immature kids downloaded some free hacking - or rather - DDOS tools and managed to ruin everything for everybody.

- Sorry, but this is not tolerable. Xbox Live always has been a great networking service in Xbox 360 times, it always made the difference and after all it still is something we pay for. To me it seems that the only thing Microsoft changed from Xbox Live 360 to Xbox Live for XB1 is that both are separated and that information is restricted, meaning that XB1 users and Xbox 360 people can’t join a party together and have a chat as well as that for example 360 users can’t see what games their XB1 buddies are playing but instead only get the message “On Xbox One” or something. I don’t know, but initially that doesn’t seem right and due to the restricted yet not very much improved nature of the programs that run the service that might also be the source for all the troubles we are experiencing.

3. Usability

That kind of goes along with the service issues but it is still worth mentioning apart from it. What I mean is: Xbox One is very poorly designed in terms of usability when you are not working with Kinect. - Admittedly that was not the intention at first but sorry: Fix that! While Kinect users can do pretty much everything with voice control and they can circumvent a ton of button confirmations and menus by doing so, users without Kinect find themselves within a user interface structure that can’t be any more impractical, confusing and simply annoying! I am not only talking about how the whole (unfortunately) Windows 8-based interface is structured but actually quite simpler about how it is used; To invite somebody to your party on Xbox 360 you need to do a total of 4 inputs. On Xbox One you need a total of 6 (depending how well you know the system you might even need to do 8 inputs)! So yeah, basically that is already at least +50% more complicated. But don’t forget all the loading times, which always was a bit of an issue with Xbox Live and since they didn’t improve it too much remains that way. Profile data (avatars, achievements, gamerscore, etc.) is of such an enormous size that it can take several seconds to retrieve the information for a single friend in your list, even with a good internet connection. I welcome you to calculate it up for yourself depending on how many friends you have on your list. Just remember that this loading of this information needs to be done in multiple menus on your way of chaotic navigation.

4. Localization (System)

Maybe one of the worst issues with Xbox One and something that goes beyond my tolerance is the fact that your XB1 - or rather Microsoft - more or less forces you to your regional language. Contrary to Sony’s PS4, which obviously arrived in the year 2015, it is currently NOT POSSIBLE to freely change the language settings of your XB1 to English. - Well it is, but as soon as you have chosen English as your system language you most likely can’t have your country as region.

For example: Language English, Region Austria or Spain is not an option on Xbox One! Well, you might think that doesn’t matter at first, but believe me this policy brings an abundance of problems with it. - Among those for example connectivity issues and lagging in various multiplayer games that come from initially connecting to “wrong” servers or the fact that all the offers in your marketplace are at usually in the wrong currency but in general invalid for you. So, if you want to buy something from the marketplace you would have to change the settings, restart your console, then sometimes realize that the content you wanted isn’t even on your marketplace but if it is, buy it, download it, install it, change the settings back, restart your console again, start the game and hope that it is in English… that really is something, right? And there are a lot of question marks involved. I am really sorry to say this but this is not how you do it! Not in the year 2015 on a very expensive system in conjunction with expensive services and most definitely not after we are used to a better system from the Xbox 360.

5. Localization (Games)

This goes somehow along with the localization of the system but it is not entirely a flaw of the Xbox One. What I mean is simply the fact that from all the (boxed) Xbox One games (and that goes the same for PS4 games) easily estimated about 70% are so strictly localized that English is not an option at all! For example the regional Evil Within that I bought in a local store features a total of four or five languages none of which is English!!!! Besides the fact that this is seriously pissing me off to the point where I almost want to start cursing out my frustration, I should also mention how that is tied to the already messed-up system language settings!

Problem: Put in a PAL/Austrian version of a “wrongly” localized game without changing the system language back to German and the game will most likely start in FRENCH!!! - So there we are… back at changing, resetting, waiting, playing, changing, resetting, hoping and basically losing one’s patience!

What is the responsibility of publishers?

Also, while I am at it, I really wanted to mention how angry it makes me that it still - IN 2015!! - is also not possible to determine which languages the game features that I am buying! You know, stuff like that HAS TO BE ON THE BOX of the game. It’s nice you mention that (in my region for example) the game is in German… Wow! - Thank you very much! I wouldn’t have guessed it… BUT IS IT ONLY IN GERMAN??? Or are there other languages… for example English on it as well? I am sorry I am getting a bit emotional but this issue really goes beyond my rational understand of the world and I feel like somebody is really having a lot of fun at my expense. Even more unimaginable there are also only few internet sources that try to list versions of games with their actual language on it, but the past has proven that those sites are not really reliable either. Look, I am not ten anymore… and actually recalling when I was, I also played games ONLY in English because there weren’t any others. I also don’t think that all games only have to be in English but PLEASE (for the love of sanity and the multicultural pot we are so fond of being melted in) why don’t you screw this whole language issue from the start and just OFFER ALL KINDS OF LANGUAGES AS DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT!?!?! - This might come as a shock to you but I WOULD EVEN PAY YOU another few bucks just to play a game in English! You see!! - You won! You could even make money with this! But please stop treating me like an idiot who can only understand his own mother language and who doesn’t deserve to appreciate others!

How come - not necessarily Microsoft - but foremost publishers fail so utterly to create a game cover that really states all the facts of any given game? You know what I now always do? I seriously call every publisher on the phone and ask them what languages a game has on it: “Hi guys. Sorry to bother you but I am holding your game in my hands now and somehow you failed to write if this is also in English. Can you please check if this version is (also) in English or else I won’t buy it.” - C’mon people. From now on let’s all do that, ok? At some point the telephones will be ringing so much that they will surely get their act together and produce informative game covers!

TO SUM IT UP

... and finally answer the question if I am happy I bought an Xbox One

Honestly… no, I am not. The system is poorly designed in terms of hardware as well as software. Game installations are sheer unbelievable time-consuming tasks and especially service-wise Xbox Live shows no improvements but basically seems to have taken a few steps backwards. The whole menus and controls are not even close to practical, almost every menu you bring up takes time to load like on a PC from 20 years before and everything is made only for and with Kinect in mind. Localization seems to have become the new sneaky coat of restriction and control while language no longer means freedom but rather a prison from which you are not allowed to escape. Some of those points concern PS4 as well and I am pretty sure I would also not be happy with a PS4. The PS4 might be better in some regards but both consoles have the same major problem that ultimately is far more important than the rest:

More than a year after release there are still only a handful of games out that are really worth playing!

I am really sorry to say that but honestly Microsoft has a lot of work to do. I am sure none of the issues I mentioned can't be fixed by reworking the software. First, maybe listening to all those voices on the internet raising concerns about the language setting for example and/or kicking the asses of some publishers to make useful and informative box covers, would be a start. Until then I am afraid at least my Xbox One will remain sad and probably die lonely and not appreciated the day the Steam Box comes out.

Play more! Reason more!
 

CEGC15 - IMPRESSIONS

THOUGH I KNOW THAT EVENINGS EMPIRE HAS RETURNED INTO SAND...

Well, that was something, wasn't it? Vienna's first attempt to unity the central European gaming community just a few hundred meters away from the Danube. With a focus on the independent side of game development a total of 30 indies got the opportunity to showcase their games, more than 20 industry veterans and experts spoke at the conference and covered valuable topics ranging from production to commercialization and on the weekend the event was concluded by the Austrian Game Jam.


Honestly, I was a bit skeptic when I first heard of the location of the event; "A university", I thought, "So we'll be in classrooms and a lot of people will have to sit on the floor because there are no more free seats?" - Wow, that took me back to studying times. The funny thing is that both the speeches and the expo really took place in classrooms, except for one big lecture hall, I think. But you know what? It really didn't matter in the end. If anything this tinted the whole event in some shades of seriousness instead of being a popular mass-media, fancy lightshow, appeal to 12 year olds mega event with so much loud music that you can hardly talk to yourself anymore. Since I was exhibiting myself, regretfully I didn't have the opportunity to listen to the speeches but I actually enjoyed the talks with other developers, publishers and all kinds of service providers a lot. Naturally I also had the chance to play an abundance of awesome indie titles, many of which are developed right here in Austria without me previously noticing. To me events like that always come down to meeting people. It doesn't matter what games they're making or whether those games are appealing to me personally. It is much more this hardly describable atmosphere of intellectual freedom and the spirit of making dreams happen that I feel most warm and welcome to dwell in. If you look closely you can see that certain spark of craziness in the eyes of most indies that unifies us all under the label "I love games" or "I was there when games became everything while the rest of the world still killed itself for oil or money". You can feel the passion that brings us together and drives us. And that is what makes events like this really stand out!

I'm having a hard time finding something to criticize on the event. Ok, there were small things like standing between buildings with a hundred kilo of computer equipment under your arms and nobody or no sign telling you where to go to (at first), or that a lot of indies almost died from starvation on the first day because the catering didn't work as planned, but seriously... in the bigger picture that becomes more of an insignificant background noise. Besides, there was an unlimited supply of Redbull and coffee, so what more can you want?

If I can make one suggestion though; I would really like to see some sort of rewards for the indie games on the next conference.


You know, not much. No price moneys or racing cars but do something small like giving the first place a pack of Manner Schnitten, some wet and warm handshakes and a few kisses from your prettiest volunteer - I don't know; "Hack the Planet"... maybe a personal tour through or a "Schnuppertag" (trial day) at one of Austria's bigger game studios. It really doesn't have to be much because I am sure all the teams were already happy to be invited there in the first place, but still it's some sort of motivational or rather appreciating thing to do.

As far as I've heard - and of course experienced myself - the party on Friday seemed to have really hit big time; great location (maybe a bit too small until the basement was opened), great drinks and great people having lots of fun while talking business, of course.

Seriously, all in all, very well done! I think it goes without saying that we - especially the Austrian Gaming Community - owe a great deal of gratitude to the people organizing this event. I know there are a lot more invaluable people and partners behind it, but nevertheless let me do a few respectful shout-outs to Mariebeth Aquino, Simon Wallner and Michael Tisler and express my sincere personal appreciation as well as many thanks on behalf of the whole community!

Speaking of "communities",... are you an indie developer, an artist, passionate about videogames and from Austria? I guess you're probably having a hard time connecting to the community for... whatever reasons. Well, I don't fully understand it myself yet and to a certain degree it seems that also drinking is involved (haha), but seriously, you might want to check out some of the following links and connect to those platforms via their various social networking channels in order to see what's actually going on:

Games Austria, IGDA Vienna, Gamestage@AEC, Subotron, OCG

I am sure there's much more but this is definitely a good point to start looking. Since I also personally like to bring people together you may also consider checking my twitter page where I am about to open a public list especially for the Austrian indie/gaming scene. Actually - although much appreciated - it shouldn't require you to follow me in order to get on that list or to retrieve information from it, but if you don't know how this feature works and you want the "easy" way, just follow me, wait until I follow back (which I usually do if you're not a spammer or a bot and which is necessary to) send me a private message with something like "mach den catconnect bitte" and I will hook you up manually. Also please don't get pissed if you're not on the list yet, I am doing the best I can and I hope you know how to contact me.

For google+ users I can also offer you the g+ Community Track17, which I created some time ago for the same purpose but never really took too serious until now. Yes, it is a private community - at least for now - but I guess you can imagine why. Being private basically only means that you would have to request permission to join the community from me and that whatever is posted there can't publicly be accessed. Not that I would decline somebody in general but for the sake of keeping a quality stream rather than a spammed one, also taking care of really just having Austrians to help the local scene in this case, as well as keeping some development-related posts at least somewhat "protected"... for now it will stay that way.

VANISHED FROM MY HAND...

So, how did Phi do at the expo? Well, actually pretty good, I'd like to think. Considering the very early stage the game is in after only a few months of solo work on the preproduction prototype, I really think it turned out great. There were no unexpected errors, glitches, crashes or whatever. Sadly my cool - as well as expensive - mouse didn't survive the trip and now I have to turn the pennies to buy a new one... yep, learned something there. But more importantly the players in general seemed to be pleased and played - as little of a game I made for them so far - more or less precisely how it was intended. Yes, of course there were some that didn't really understand where the game is going, but given the characteristics of a story-based, classic, non-linear and utmost atmospheric adventure - of which nothing could be really experienced in the prototype as it will be later - that is more than understandable.

What hurt most was seeing a lot of players totally fail and getting near their frustration tolerance limit at the wall-jumping sections. BUT not to worry, similar to a lot of other - so far - purposely neglected, movement related features that is one thing that is doomed to change radically, as soon as the 3D model of the main character will replace the stickman placeholder and "real" physics and animations take over.

What made me happy the most was watching at least a handful of people who really took the controller and knew exactly what they were doing. From a lot of talks afterwards those players seemed very like-minded to myself regarding the games they've played in the past, the games they consider to be great games and ultimately the games they would like to play again in these times of somewhat chaotic innovation and false promises. For the first time - outside the realm of my close friends - I had the feeling of really connecting to people through my own vision of how a game could be. Like some sort of confirmation that this "magical" target audience that I always only assumed is out there, in fact really exists. That was really a great experience and an even bigger motivation for me.

LEFT ME BLINDLY HERE TO STAND BUT STILL NOT SLEEPING...

Well, as much as my weariness amazes me too, Mr. Dylan, at some point I promised my body (and my girlfriend) that I will rest a bit, so this is what I intent to do now for a while. It's not that I will do nothing but at least the crunching is over and the programming aspects of Phi will be stopped until I have found somebody to support me in this field of work. First I need to put a bit effort into the public representation (website) of Phi. Then I really want to start work on the 3D model of the character, which alone is going to take several weeks and just then hopefully everything boils down to a swift and polished state of the prototype which will lead to some nice game teasers around spring time.
Also I desperately want to play some games again for a change. I still have several reviews and posts scheduled that I want to finish and put out to you as soon as possible, the new remake of the Resident Evil remake is out already, not to mention all the great stuff I saw and played at the conference expo!

So yeah, stop by some time and see what's going on. Thank you all very much for your ongoing support, thanks again to the people behind CEGC15 and many thanks also to my close friends Eibi, dem Mann aus der Kiste and Natalie for helping me at the conference and with the artworks!

Help building the Austrian Indie Game Community yourself by being active, linking, tweeting, sharing, drinking, producing,... you figure. The CEGC15 was just the beginning - and for that it was already more than a success! It's events like this that bring us forward... that cause ripples in a world of concrete with rules that shatter dreams before they are even born. It's about time that also Austria truly enters this sphere of cultural importance that is video gaming. The indie wave is already in motion. Let's ride it instead of just watching it, shall we?




Play more! Connect more!

ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT EXPO 2014

A BRIGHT LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Days before the biggest videogame event of the year the internet seemed nervous. Torn between big expectations and the still visible scar of recent disappointments. You could feel it. The virtual air was full of electricity; "Who will come out best?", "Will Microsoft redeem itself?", "Did anybody hear something from Nintendo?",... Probably the most important question on everyone's mind however was: "What new games will be announced?" or rather "Can we now finally speak of a next generation of gaming"?

Well, to make it short: Yes, we can finally speak of a new generation of videogames. And the titles that will soon eat up the miserable rest of our souls are more beautiful than ever, vast in numbers and even more incomprehensible in terms of playtime.


Assassin's Creed Unity
Halo 5: Guardians
Halo: Masterchief Collection
Destiny
Sims 4
Far Cry 4
Batman: Arkham Knight
Yoshi's Wooly World
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Tom Clancy's The Division
Mirror's Edge 2
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Alien Isolation
The Order 1886
Star Wars Battlefront
Rise of the Tomb Raider
FIFA 15
Mortal Kombat X
The Legend of Zelda
The Evil Within
Mass Effect 4

and many, many more great games will be released in the near future. I am surely not exaggerating when I say that after this event gamer hearts all over the world need quite some time to get back to their normal rhythm. I liked most of what I have seen and the games that really made my piss my pants were definitely the new Assassin's Creed, the new Batman, The Division, the new Zelda and one indie title called White Night. Of course there was also the new Halo but somehow the creators of the franchise - be it now 343 or Bungie in the past - are never really good in presenting their product at the appropriate time. The trailer of Halo 5: Guardians was basically nothing. Sorry, but you need a bit more than that if you want to make my blood go faster. And all this Masterchief Collection stuff (remakes of the older Halo games) didn't impress me a lot. Is this really requested fan-service or are they still trying to milk dead cows even more? Since you can always switch back to the original graphics, I really hope this time you did a better job than with Halo Anniversary and you also touched the code of the games a bit. Because just changing the graphics is not enough, which is why Halo Anniversary was rather unplayable and in the end not very good!

Anyway, since you all have probably seen a lot about the games I don't want to tell you again why they are good. - If you haven't, check out the links I set above and get blown away yourself. I would rather use the rest of this post to talk about some general impressions I had from watching the event:

First and foremost regarding the games... Are you people - gamers and mostly creators - not the least bit concerned about the path you are choosing with these games displayed? To me it seems like immersive was yesterday and now we should invent a new word like "ubermersive". Was it just a damn good presentation and far from the blunt playtime truth or is seriously every game as long as displayed? - That infinite? From watching all those great games I got this distinct feeling that most of what we are to expect is basically a never ending story; "The universe is infinite", "You can travel all the way to those big mountains in the back", "We will see how big it will really get", and so on... You know, it's not a bad thing if game worlds get bigger and offer the players a lot to explore, but on the other hand this might also not be such a good thing either. Do you honestly expect us to put 100+ hours in every game we play? Who has the time for that? And if we, the people who need work hard to pay the more or less justified prices of those games, had the time, do you honestly think we could play even half of those titles? I hope not. Most of us will have to make a choice. - Do I play Assassin's Creed Unity or do I rather want to put the little free time I have into the new Batman over the next couple of months? Excuse my Russian but that is bullshit! I think the industry is tiptoeing on some very thin ice there. When did the console wars become game wars? More than ever does it seem like everyone wants to make his game as big and as long as possible, to hook-up as many players as possible for the longest time possible and prevent them from playing anything else. - That sounds like "trapmersive" to me. Have you ever thought that this might backfire on the level we are currently? - Especially since you always release all the major titles within just a few weeks? Just imagine that most of the gamers will just buy one or two selected titles and they will be hooked on them for let's say three months each... wow, that sounds like a lot of revenues, right? At least for the few titles that got consumed to the very last crumb. But what if you are with one of the games that nobody bought... well, that's a damn sad story then, right?

What did you think about the presentations in general? I must say, I was quite surprised from the approaches and the different shows. Not considering games (!!!), for me, Microsoft did the best show. Ok, it seemed a bit stiff and to be honest I can't make too much of Phil Spencer at the moment. Was it just the pressure after last year's disastrous Xbox One presentation or did you also think he just faked all the "I am a real gamer" attitude? As much as I want, I can't tell. Both Microsoft's and Sony's show were great to watch and left me with a professional impression, although the developers on stage seemed a bit crazier at Sony's side.

Eye candy, people! Remember all this many green screens? Or the one very long screen in the back from Sony? How can you not even show up in person at all, Nintendo? - Digital Event, my ass! You know, we get digtal events all the year, but at the biggest and most important videogame event of the year, could you please show up in person? That would make you soo much more real and personal...


Microsoft also did not waste any time on any new techno-gadgets, like Sony did with their PlayStation TV or their Oculus Rift copy or Nintendo with their even more ridiculous amibo dolls! This time Microsoft was all about games and that I appreciated most! Yes, Sony also showed some games off big-time (and probably more than MS did), but in the end it simply felt like too much blabla from which I can't even remember half by now. And Nintendo did in no way better; nobody on the stage and for the most part just some Japanese developers explaining the simplest things over and over with more words than necessary, while drinking tea, playing with wool or watching fishes. Oh, and those stupid, badly animated sequences in-between...Sorry, but I didn't like them at all.


As always, aside from the three console giants, also some publishers had their own show and I must say that also those were pretty astonishing. Still, why did the EA guy wear such a ridiculous and snobby suit? Just a second... did they really have a live string performance on their show? Yep, something definitely smelled like big money on that stage. But you know, somehow Ubisoft even topped that... not with their needless dance show but with swearing! - I swear! I thought I was in the wrong movie hearing those top-ranked executives and producers tell stuff like "you are fucked" or "holy shit". Don't get me wrong, it's not that I am offended by cursing in general, but is the biggest gaming event really the right place to curse for these representatives of a major publisher? - In front of all the world? In front of children? What is this? Did they think this was cool? That they would related better to a mature audience? I am sorry, I am very much mature, I am a gamer and I curse all the time, but somehow I did feel a bit offended by such a transgression. I know games break every boundary nowadays and our children are fucked might have lost any moral values by now, but please... you are grown people, public figures,.. how about keeping some decency? Swearing on stage at your grade of representation is NOT cool! And btw. a push-up contest is also not necessarily the reason why I watched your show...

Judging from the presentations it became clear to me that every console giant needs to work a bit more on themselves; Microsoft still needs to become more believable and trustworthy again, Sony needs to step down from their big horse and become a bit closer and personal to their audience without introducing one techno gadget after the other and Nintendo (better sooner than later) needs to grow up. - Making cute games is one thing but presenting them in such a way is another.

All in all and especially game-wise this was a great E3, probably the best I've ever watched. I am glad that console gaming finally made it to the next generation with all those awesome titles. Not only the standard AAA franchises look better than ever and seem to explore new aspects instead of giving us the same sequels again, but also a ton of great indie games are rolling our way.

I am very happy to play those games soon and I seriously hope we gamers will really have the time to get into the bigger part of them!

Play more! Celebrate more!